As the sun sets the children are in awe at the beauty of Writing in Stone Provincial Park.

What could be better? Warm rocks to climb, a late summer's eve with the waning sun rendering its last vestiges of light before slipping beneath the horizon, and a beautiful landscape to be in awe of. The perfect way to end a perfect day.

I find that my memories of growing up are few and faint, especially the ones before the age of eight. One of the things that help fix an event firmly in your mind is an emotional experience; the stronger the emotional response the greater the chance that memory will carry through the rest of your years. I can imagine the children in the scene will always carry something of that remarkable evening with them.

These events are formative in nature; they are part of the hand that molds us into who we are. Children who are given the opportunity to experience nature's great beauty are more likely to respect and care for the Earth they live on. The reason is two-fold. First, these memories are likely to form an unconscious need to experience nature as an adult. That could mean hiking, boating, bird-watching, camping, and so forth. An outdoor lifestyle tends to be healthy and promotes fitness. Then there is patterning.

Patterning, according to the English College Dictionary, is the "forming of fixed ways of behaving or of doing things by constantly repeating something or copying other people." As a child, going camping once or enjoying a rare hike is not likely to promote these behaviours in adulthood. Having the opportunity to experience these things on a regular basis will, however, help a child develop a more healthy lifestyle.

We camped every summer. Both my wife and I were teachers and consequently had eight weeks each summer to enjoy the outdoors. I was the more outdoorsy of the two and strove to take my children canoeing, kayaking, hiking, and exploring what was all around us. As adults, both my children love the outdoors. My son works at a year-round camp and my daughter rides her bike and walks for leisure daily, sometimes covering great distances. I attribute this to the experiences they had growing up.

It's not, "Fun in the sun and then done". It's more like, "Out and about has clout." Get outside. It's good for everybody. Really.

Thanks for reading.     Ericspix     Eric Svendsen

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